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2011-2012 FOOTBALL ROSTER

Is this the most talented ISU football roster of all time??? I count 4 offensive players(KO,Lenz,Hayworth Hicks, Bykowski) that are in, or have been affiliated with an NFL team, and I think Farniok will get some interest from NFL teams. On defense we have 5 pros: Knott, Klien, LJ, Reeves(signed with Jets), and Jake McDonough... I think George, and possibly Jansen Watsen will make a team too... Not to mention, we had one of the best punters in ISU history in Van Der Kamp. So, two debatable question here; 1) Is this the best football roster of all time, 2) If so, why did we only win 6 games in 2011?

Honestly, we weren't "on the cusp" of anything that year. We had a really good defense, but our offense was just awful most of the time. When we lost, we lost big (with maybe the exception of the KSU game and the overall poor showing in the bowl game in New York), and we barely won 5/6 games to even go 6-6. It was *awesome* to see us win close, clutch games like that, but most of the teams above frankly kicked the snot out of us most of the time.

I would have to think the Seneca teams, the Sage teams, and maybe even the 2005 team (the ultimate tease, they basically did the exact opposite of the above in winning big but losing really small and in ways you could have easily seen more "clutch" teams win, even to the point of 11-0) were definitely better than that one.

Re: 2011-2012 FOOTBALL ROSTER

IMO, this comes down to players having talent but all being at different stages in their player development. A sophomore that is a future pro three years later is far different from that sophomore year versus three years later. And that 2012 season we had inconsistent quarterbacking and our offense was inconsistent.

IMO, that is one of the big things on defense this coming year. Could we be looking at some talent that needs much more developing, growth, and continued improvement.

Re: 2011-2012 FOOTBALL ROSTER

There is NFL experience and then there are NFL starters, which to me indicates high impact players at the college level. I think a better indicator of our talent level in a season, is the number of all Big 12 players that year.

Re: 2011-2012 FOOTBALL ROSTER

Originally Posted by Luth4Cy

Quarterback struggles. I think in 2011 it was more so having no solid QB than a dysfunctional offense.

Bingo!

In both the NFL and in college, you rarely will go anywhere without a great QB. Kind of a coincidence that ISU's best teams were when we had NFL QB's like Sage Rosenfels and Seneca Wallace playing QB for us.

That's what scares me a bit again about this upcoming year's offense too. I think we could be pretty darn good at every position, except QB is still a mystery. We desperately need either Rohach or Richardson to be better than they've been IMO.

Re: 2011-2012 FOOTBALL ROSTER

I think, yes, it was arguably the best ISU roster of all time. The most interesting comparison might be with Johnny Major's 1971-72 Liberty bowl team that, similarly, went 5-6-1 (NU, OU, and CU finished 1, 2, and 3 in the polls that year) and had a number of players that went pro.

Several of the 2011-12 players mentioned are hanging around on rosters more than one year having been undrafted free agents. Historically, ISU players are undervalued on draft day due to the less than stellar achievements of the team, and the fact that we live in fly-over country. As UFAs, though, they do have the advantage of standing out versus their perceived peers for that reason.

So why the apparent underachievement of the 20011-12 squad of finishing 6-7? The Steele Jantz injury at UConn was a factor. Remember, too, that KO played the entire season, as much as he managed to play, on a sprained ankle. And Bykowski (gotta mention our MN boy ...) was never on the field with KO at the same time. He played often, but only as KO's backup.

ISU finished #43 overall. Don't have a link, but I recall they would have started the season ranked in the 80s. By this measure, the teams achievement versus expectation was truly historic. Compare that to Iowa, who finished #45 and probably started in the 30s. (I'm sure it will not be lost on Lakesbison that NDSU finished #37 that year, about where I'm guessing they would have started out.)

But I think the biggest factor for ISU in 2011-12 is that, according to Jeff Sagarin, they played the #2 overall Strength of Schedule (Iowa was #39, and NDSU #136). According to Phil Steele's retrospective rankings, ISU did in fact play the #1 SoS in the nation. Anytime you play a top 10 SoS, your team is going to be physically beaten up at the end of the year, and you have little chance of making it to a bowl. It also shows how absolutely miraculous the OSU win was that year, late in the season, with a freshman QB, and on ESPN in front of the entire CFB world. <-Cy->

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